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Sunday, February 20, 2011

As a side note; here are 50 Twitter acronyms defined and used in a sentence



First and foremost.  I 'stole' the acronyms from a writer at digiphile.  I would tell you their name but I couldn't find it in the article.  They offered the acronyms.  I put them in sentences.
People abbreviate stuff all the time in Twitter.  It makes sense.  You have a limit of 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation.  In Twitter, you have to make every character count for as much as possible.  A LOT of these carry over from text-message-on-the-phone days so some are easily recognized.
Below, you will see 50 abbreviations (or acronyms) and not only what they mean but also their use in a sentence.  I will try to keep my examples to 140 characters or less.  (BTW, I'm fairly new to Twitter so writing the blog is also helping me to remember all these abbreviations so I can read some of the hieroglyphic tweets I'm getting!)
Please note:  Some of the abbreviations below are for foul language.  I have deleted them from the list so it's really less than 50.  
and another note... I realized that the links below, for example "As Far as I Know" for AFAIK are links to excellent definitions.  I still plan to add my own, sometimes shorter definition and use them in a sentence.  I started this article, I plan to finish it.


@
1) Reply to [username]; or 2) call out a person in Twitterville or 3) mention a person in Twitterville.  (yes, these are mostly the same.)  (SIDE NOTE: If you want someone to be sure and get you’re Tweet, put "@NAME" in what you are writing).
1) "@Name is awesome!" (Mr(/Ms) likes this {from 'Mr NoOne'} and wants to say thank you for the compliment, so they Reply with "thanks @NoOne! your awesome too!")  So the Reply is "thanks @NoOne! your awesome too!"
a great little note here.  In the "Whats Happening" box on Twitter, if you type the "@" and then any letter such as "@N", Twitter will try to help you by guessing the name of the person 9taken from the list of people you are following)
2) "@Name is awesome!" is a call out.  It's a chance to say something about someone in Twitterville.  From my experience, people on twitter love to see their name mentioned.
3) "love to follow @Name & @NoOne" is a mention.  If you put someones Twitter name in a Tweet, you are mentioning them.


AFAIK
As Far as I Know  "AFAIK I may write this article but no one will read it."  It's 4 less words or more importantly 11 characters shorter than typing 'as far as I know'.   We all know character count is important in Twitter so 5 characters is better than 16.


b/c
Because  "I Tweet, b/c I can."  (5 characters shorter than 'because').  IF I were actually tweeting the example sentence, I would spell out 'because'.  I'm old school and believe that unless I need to I shouldn't use abbreviation or acronyms. (This sometimes means I type a tweet 5 or 6 times before I get my message short enough to fit!)



BFN
Bye For now (Also try here) "Bye for now".  Pretty straightforward.  I personally have never seen this one used.  


BR
Best Regards  "Best Regards", again, simple and almost a sentence in itself.


BTW
By the Way  "By The Way, @NoOne is a great guy to follow!"  'BTW' saves you 7 characters.


DM
Direct Message. d username sends one. "D@NoOne how about coffee after work?"

.  
EM
Email  "Twitter is too short to explain what I'm talking about.  I'll EM you tonight." (saves 3 characters)


FB
Facebook  This one is global.  I've seen "FB" instead of "Facebook" in regular print.


FF
Usually #FF for Follow Friday#FollowFriday is supposed to work better than it does. If you #FF someone, take the characters to explain why.  Usually looks like "#FF @NoOne @editadvertising @SellingATL @TNR01 @O_W_S @jacobkotze " This is silly.  PLEASE take a few extra characters and EXPLAIN why someone should follow these people.  


FTF
Face To Face. Also, F2F. Or the Fair Trade FederationMany other options, see here and here for more on "FTF" & "F2F". (also see "IRL" below)  "I have a FTF with @name tomorrow".  saves 9 characters.


FTL
For The Loss  "Our team ain't gonna make the Bowl this year :-( FTL"  Saves 9 characters.


FTW
For The Win   Expression of enthusiasm about something. "Have you seen the new VW commercial? FTW!!"


FWD
Forward (I disagree; I think more of “Front Wheel Drive”).  It can be used as both.  "I'll FWD you the details later" or "I LOVE my FWD Chrysler!" Saves 4 characters as "Forward" and 14 as "Front Wheel Drive".  16 other definitions here.


FWIW
For What It’s Worth  "FWIW I'm an excellent artist." saves 14 characters.  Very common in comments on articles.


HT
Hat tip is a compliment, usually in reply to something someone said.  also pretty common in comments on articles.  "HT to you, sir."


HTH
Hope That Helps (or Hope This Helps)  Usually a closing comment on (what you believe to be) helpful information you have offered someone.  Person 1 "try restarting your computer"; Person 2 "I'll try that as soon as possible"; Person 1 "HTH, let me know."  Saves 12 characters.


IMHO
In My Humble Opinion  (or In My Honest Opinion) "IMHO the new Camaro is a sweet ride but doesn't pay respect to its origin" . Saves either 16 characters either way.


IMO
In My Opinion  one of my faves, I offer my opinion a lot.  "IMO Android has the best phone OS right now."


IRL
In Real Life my absolute favorite (forgive the soapbox in the next few sentences.)  EVERYTHING that you do professionally in social media should strive towards IRL.  There is no social site (or any other kind) on the internet that, I believe, will allow you to reach your professional goal without some IN REAL LIFE activity.  In your personal life, do what you wish.  "I have an IRL meeting with a LinkedIn contact next Wednesday!" saves 9 characters.


JV
Joint Venture  Read the link for the definition, it doesn't get better than that.  "My friend is considering a JV with someone he met through Twitter"  saves 11 characters.  (Note, if you are a teenager, it probably means Junior Varsity and you are probably not reading this article, except for laughs.)


J/K
Just Kidding  pretty self-explanatory.


LI
LinkedIn My favorite professional networking site.  check me out here, if we have something in common or your in Tulsa I'll be open to a connection.  "I use LI every day in my job search."  saves 6 characters.


LMAO
Laughing My Ass Off  As old as phones that can text.  not as popular (IMO, ha ha) as LOL.  This does not need an example sentence.  Saves 15 characters


LMK
Let Me Know  "I heard you’re grounded, LMK when you can get out."  Saves 8 characters.


LOL
Laughing Out Loud  Someone said something funny and your reply of "LOL" says 'You can't see or hear me but I'm laughing at what you just said."  saves 14 characters and is probably the biggest reason why high school kids can't spell "Laugh" anymore


MT
Modified Tweet in a nutshell from the link "I have modified this tweet substantially, for reasons of my own choosing, and you may want to seek out the original before coming to any conslusions about the original author's content, meaning, intents, or purposes." Saves 12 characters.


NSFW
Not Safe For Work  refers to something that should not be viewed, read, listened to or on your computer screen, at your place of work.  May be vulgar or lewd content.  Usually added to a link " check this out! www.notareallink.com NSFW"  saves 17 characters and maybe your boss getting really angry with you.


OH
Overheard  "I OH the boss saying he was flying out on Thu"  saves 7 characters


PRT
Partial Retweet (at the start of a tweet). Sometimes “Please Retweet” Old School: Party  (Old School??? I REMEMBER when "PRT" meant "Party!" OUCH).  "PRT mom headed to hospital, need your prayers."


RE
In reply to. As in, use RE for @replies on Twitter. Used in front of the @ to ensure all followers can see the conversation. Further on text: Community, @replies, #fixreplies and Change“  More good stuff about this here.  Clicking the "Reply" link on a persons Tweet will open a "reply" window and will start the message with "@NAME".


RR
Re-Run  I haven't seen this before.  This is a great description taken from the article in the link "Now, if you want to retweet yourself, just put RR in front of a tweet.  Use 'RR:' instead of 'RT:' and your all set.  Most often, people RR tweets when the first occurrence may have been too early or too late to be seen by many people.  Or maybe a RR is in order if there are other events being shared on Twitter that render your little message insignificant. "  


RT
Retweet  not a bad link, try here and here or here  You will see a "ReTweet" link on every Tweet you read.  Most people like to have their stuff ReTweeted.



RTF
Read The FAQ. RTFF shows up too. RTF also stands for Rich Text File and others here.  Person 1 "I cant get this stupid thing to work!" Person 2 "did you RTF?"  Saves 9 characters


RTHX
Thanks For The ReTweet  "thank you for ReTweeting me!"  Obvious use, I like this link better for a definition.


SNAFU
Situation Normal All fouled Up  Started as a military term means the situation is in terrible shape.   saves 25 characters.  


TMI
Too Much Information  I like this link better.  It is a response to someone who has shared more information than you wanted or needed to hear.  Person 1 "I've been stuck in the bathroom all morning with diarrhea"  Person 2 "Sorry your sick but TMI"

YMMV
Your Mileage May Vary  Link appears to be dead, try this.  means your results may vary.  " There is a great sale going on at the store, most 75% off but YMMV".  


YW
You’re Welcome  Obvious.  


NB
Nota Bene.  (I like Wikipedia betterMake sure to read the comments, where there are many great additions.


ICYMI
In Case You Missed IT (better link here) "I sent you the reports from last night, ICYMI"


CX
Correction  Means this tweet is a correction to an older tweet.  "CX Chrysler is my fave auto not Ford"


RTQ
Read The Question or Retweet Question  Long list of different possibilities here.  Best understood in context.  If discussing a question, it's probably one of the two mentioned here.  Not commonly used IMO.




So, thats the list as I know it.   Remember you can always try the Twitter Help Center or  Google it; or you can try all-acronyms.com and the acronymgeek.com.  Remember if it has been used as an abbreviation somewhere else, it's probably being used on Twitter.  Also if you are talking to someone in your industry, industry specific abbreviations and acronyms are of course acceptable.  I work in call centers, so Tweeting to associates I could use LD (Long Distance), VoIP (Voice over IP), AHT (Average Handle Time) or SPC (Sales per Call).
As always I hope this has helped you to use social medial in your job search.




(Remember to ignore this, it's just all my tags.  No need to read this, its just SEO. Employeer, internet, Job, Jobseeker, Lifehacker, Online Reputation Management, ORM, Recruiter, Social media, Wikipedia, chester, chester paul, chester paul lohman, paul, paul lohman, lohman, trainer, manager, Landing page, internet, internet tools, blog, blogging, bookmark, bookmarking,  email, IM, shopping, social network, social networking, social news)

3 comments:

  1. WTG Chet. WD. HT to U FAXP (for an excellent post, a new term I just made up.)

    -Russ

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice post. Check out the meaning of ICYMI and other definitions here.

    ReplyDelete
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